Week 3 Reflection

Each week, you will write a 300-word reflection paper that explores your personal thoughts and responses to the ideas covered that week. The purpose of the reflection papers is to document your thinking throughout the course, to discuss idea and concepts that you find challenging, to think through how the ideas we discussed are relevant to your teaching, and to express your concerns about culturally responsive teaching. 

Note: you do not have to answer every question in the prompt - these are just to get you thinking. And if you'd like to write on a topic not mentioned below, that's fine too as long as it touches on one (or multiple) theme of the week.

Prompt: How do you see your own race and cultural background having a role in or influencing the decisions you make as a teacher? How has your identity or culture been affirmed or discounted by your schooling? Did this impact your academic success or view of yourself? How might you go about affirming your students’ cultures and identities while also ensuring that you introduce them to cultures other than their own? In what ways might you use your position as a teacher to contribute to equity and social justice by explicitly addressing racism in the context of your curriculum, if relevant to your content area? Where are the areas you feel you need to gain further knowledge about different cultural or racial backgrounds so that you can make curricular decisions to help support your students? How might you go about addressing these gaps in your knowledge?